Going The Distance
by JulieM
Summary: What happens when Harm and Mac see a little too much of themselves in their newest protégés? COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Title: Going the distance. By JulieM

Summary: What happens when Harm and Mac see a little too much of themselves in their newest protégés?

Disclaimer: I don't own JAG or any of it's characters, but just borrow them for a while to exercise my overactive imagination! JAG belongs to DPB, Bellisarius Productions and CBS.

Spoilers: None.

Rating: T, just to be on the safe side.

Category: Slightly H/M shipper, but mainly, Harm and Mac get some perspective on their relationship, by watching another partnership.

This is just an idea I came up with in the space of an hour...Not sure yet if I will continue it, but your feedback will help be decide (hint hint!) I'd appreciate anything you have to say, once you've read this. Thanks!

OOOO

Part 1

The young man had to walk brusquely to keep up with his senior officer's long stride.

"We talked about this, lieutenant," the older man pointed out, "Were you even listening the last time I told you?"

"Yes, Sir," the young man tried to explain, "but it's so difficult to take what you've told me and use it to intercept any verbal comment I'm about to make."

"Well," Harmon Rabb Jr. replied, "I'd try harder, if I were you, or your working relationship with your partner is going to go right down the head…"

The young lieutenant j.g. only nodded, frustrated.

"She may be a commissioned officer in the United States Navy, but she's like most other members of the female sex, regardless of the rank. Her pride and her self-esteem is a little bit delicate at times, despite the fact that she could easily drop-kick your six. Let's go over this all one more time:

No sand-bagging her in court; that's an easy way to get into a lot of trouble with just a seemingly tiny action. Trust me on this, I know from personal experience.

Stop pressing her damn buttons, no matter how inviting the opportunity might be because that's one way to get your gonads excised with no sedation and

For God's sake, stop calling her 'Podge.' That is a definite no-no…"

"But that was just a joke, Sir," James defended, "I heard from her sister that she was a little chubby while she was still in elementary school…"

"A definite no-no, lieutenant," Harm cut in, emphatically and trying to sound stern, "Understood?"

"Yes, Sir," James conceded.

Lieutenants JG Andrew James and Elaine Hodge were some of the most recent additions to the JAG office at Falls Church and were meant to be partners, but were now just starting to face each other in court, handling petty cases. When they had first arrived, Harm and Mac had tried their best to take these two under their protective wing and guide them, but it seemed that life was never dull when these two were around. They had a funny knack for winding each other up, which led to some pretty intense fireworks around the bullpen. These didn't really disrupt the functioning of the office, so Cresswell tended to either miss it entirely or just let it go most of the time, but the rest of the staff did find it quite amusing. Since they were all used to the past shenanigans of a certain Naval Commander and Marine Lieutenant Colonel, these displays were tame in comparison, but still provided much amusement and sparked off a 'will-they-or-won't-they' betting pool. It was plain to see the sexual tension between these two, but like Harm and Mac before them, they were unlikely to actually act upon it in the formality of such a workplace as this.

OOOO

In her office, Mac was meeting with the subject of Harm and Andy's conversation.

"34 television sets, 17 VCRs, 15 Dvd players, various weaponry, assorted technology, including IPod music players, MP3 Players and cellphones, pilfered from the quarters of other recruits and huge amounts of cannabis and cocaine, which they planned to sell!" Elaine 'Lainey' Hodge exclaimed, "How on earth am I going to defend this one?"

"Regardless of the crime the officers are accused of," Mac reminded the young woman, "they deserve a fair and impartial trial, just like anybody else. It is your job to investigate and try to build a case that gives the jury members a good idea about what went on. Look to see if there may be any mitigating factors, something that points to why they foolishly decided to do this, apart from the opportunity to make money."

"I don't see how any factors could fully mitigate the actions of these recruits," Elaine sighed, miserably.

"Then see if you can present anything that would reduce the penalties your clients are facing," Mac encouraged, "If you have to plea bargain, then so be it. But you're going to have to defend your clients to the very best of your abilities."

After a moment of silence, Mac looked over and took in the defeated appearance of her newest apprentice.

"Well, this isn't like you," she commented, "You're usually ready for a good fight."

"Yeah," Lainey sighed, "but today I just can't seem to get it together…This week has been tough enough, without having to face off against Lieutenant James, most of the time. The man has been driving me insane."

Mac took in the gritting of the other woman's teeth and took 'insane' to be literal, rather than 'with passion.' Concealing a grin, Mac stood up from her desk where they had been working, prodding Elaine back into the fight like an expert coach.

"Well, since he's going to be opposing you on this case, I suggest you snap yourself out of it, or he's going to have even more of an advantage over you on this one."

It worked and soon, Elaine was busy at her desk, making phone-calls to set up preliminary meetings.

Harm and Andy soon entered the bullpen, but giving them just one short look, Elaine turned back to her work and gave her partner no more thought.

OOOO

"You doing anything for dinner, tonight?" Andrew asked his partner on the way out of the door.

It had been three days since the General had assigned them this case and now that all of the preliminary investigation had been done, they faced full-out confrontation in order to try to come to consensus on a plea bargain.

"I've got nothing planned," Lainey told him, but would later kick herself internally for revealing to him that she had no social life, "just my usual Friday night take-out. You want to do something?"

"I thought maybe we could get together and try to work out some sort of deal on this case," Andrew told her, which sort of disappointed her, but she tried not to let it show.

"Uh, yeah…I guess we could do that," She nodded, "You prefer any particular take-out?"

"The Chinese place east of Union?" Andrew suggested, "They do good food there."

"Sure," Elaine wisely decided not to say anything about this. She knew that Andrew had a particular thing about the take-out he consumed. If it didn't come from the take-out east of Union Square, then he wouldn't eat it. His reasoning was that the layout of the place facilitated the customer's view into the kitchens, so you could see just how clean things were, how the ingredients were prepared and how the food was handled. In fact, Elaine knew that Andrew sometimes refused to eat anyplace where the kitchen staff didn't wear hairnets. It had seemed quirky at first, now it was a little annoying, but she hoped that at some point she'd learn to see the humor in it and allow it to bother her less.

"Seven sound good?"

"Yeah, fine."

OOOO

Andrew was predictably late, that evening, but Lainey was relieved to find that even though she had left the door open for him, he made no comment about how it wasn't safe to do so. Several times, his remonstrations had been met with; "Well, just turn up on time and then I'll know when to expect you."

When he finally arrived, he walked through to where Lainey was already sitting with the cartons out on the table, going over her case notes. He knew his way around her spacey apartment and was now past the stage where he asked her questions about it.

From conversations pieced together, he'd managed to ascertain that it was her parent's apartment, but had been a gift to her for graduating from college. It had been bought as a financial investment and they had intended it to go to their children eventually. Since she now needed a place of her own, it made sense for her to live there, pay off the remainder of the mortgage and actually get on the property ladder, rather than shell out in rent. While they were still getting to know each other, Andy had once asked if she would have to eventually share this investment with any siblings.

"I've only got one older sister," she had told him, joking "But she's off around the world doing the eco-warrior thing, so I'm hoping she'll not be interested."

Andrew had even met her sister once, in a bizarre case that had eventually needed her testimony as an expert witness.

He'd also learned that Lainey had been a very ill child in her first few years, spending many birthdays in the hospital in a serious condition. Her parents had decided that they didn't want to run the risk of having more children who might be born with the same problems and possibly succumb to them, as Lainey very nearly had.

For about forty minutes, they sparred back and forth, but when it became evident that they were not going to reach any agreement, they decided to give up for the evening and just focus on their food. The quiet evening came to an end early and then Andrew left to return to his apartment across town.

OOOO


	2. Chapter 2

OOOO

Part 2

"Ma'am?" Elaine gave a knock on the open door of Mac's office, "May I have a word with you, for just a minute?"

"Sure," Mac welcomed her, "Just shut the hatch behind you and take a seat."

After Lainey had shut the door, she lowered herself into the proffered chair. When she didn't speak up, but remained sitting with a worried expression on her face, Mac knew she had to make the first step to reach out.

"What seems to be troubling you, Lieutenant?" she asked, "Is it something to do with your case?"

"Yes Ma'am," Lainey swallowed then proceeded slowly, "I believe that I may have come across a piece of evidence that will at least go part of the way towards diminishing my client's role in this case."

"And what is stopping you from just entering this into evidence and proceeding with your case accordingly?" Mac asked, curiously, "Are you finding it hard to find hard evidence or a reliable witness to give testimony as to these facts?"

"You see, Ma'am," Elaine explained, "this evidence first came to me from my clients themselves. However, they refuse to let me follow this lead, for fear of retribution that may befall them if this should become public knowledge. In fact, my clients wish to plead guilty and avoid any further public exposure."

"Are you saying that these men were under orders when they perpetrated these crimes?" Mac asked, to which Lainey slowly nodded.

"And now they won't let me fight the case any further in court, because they're afraid that somebody's going to seek revenge against them, if they implicate this individual."

"Did they tell you who this was?" Mac asked.

Lainey just shook her head, adding, "But I believe them, Ma'am, no matter whether they identify this person. I saw the fear in their eyes when they told me. There was no way they could have been faking that."

"Did you explain that we could get them transfers, offer them protection?" Mac asked.

Lainey nodded, but added, "They still refused, Ma'am. They say they'll deny any knowledge of this if I bring it up in court, even if they'd be lying whilst under oath to do so."

Mac pursed her lips. This was a tough one to make a decision on. Elaine was still such a young officer, still so idealistic about the 'search for truth and justice.' Unfortunately, it looked like she would have to find out that the truth sometimes wasn't able to be brought to light in all cases.

"Did they say anything else, other than how they were going to plead guilty?" Mac asked.

"Just that they'd do so when court reconvenes on Wednesday," Lainey told her, "and that doesn't give me a whole lot of time…"

"Well, why don't you go and see if you can find Lieutenant James," Mac suggested, "Maybe he'd be sympathetic to your case if you explained…"

"But I don't know if I can risk telling him without alienating my clients," Elaine argued, "You know how Andy is, he's going to hear one word of this and go off to play super-hero. If he doesn't manage to get himself into trouble, he'll certainly get me into trouble when my clients find out on Wednesday. There's no way he'll be able to keep from using this information in his line of questioning."

Mac knew this was most likely to happen.

"See if you can't get some kind of offer out of him, first," Mac suggested, "Then, if you think he's not being receptive to pleas bargaining, most importantly, if you think he might agree to be discreet about this knowledge, let him know. He might surprise you."

But Andrew James did surprise her, alright…and not in a good way.

OOOO

"How on earth can you say that these two deserve a deal like that?" Andrew exclaimed, angrily, "They blatantly misappropriated military property and that of its personnel. They don't deserve 'a fair break,' as you put it. They deserve the book throwing at them. They deserve more than what the law is allowed to dish out to them…"

"Listen, I know that this is hard to accept on just my say-so alone," Elaine tried again to make him understand, "But I know that these kids aren't as responsible in all this as you think. Once we're done here, it will not be the end of this for them and they'll certainly learn their lesson along the way…"

"Damn straight!" Andy cut her off, "Because they won't just be scrubbing bathroom floors with toothbrushes for this. They're going to be kicked out. The military has no place for blatant renegades like them."

"You're taking this too personal, Andrew," Elaine tried to reason, but Andy cut him off again.

"You just don't get it, do you? I've seen their type all of my life and I'm sick of it; the spoiled brats with the rich Mommy and Daddy who give them everything their stuck-up little hearts desire. But this time it's not their parents they'll have to answer to; it's the military. Mom and Dad won't be able to get them out of this one…And can't you always trust another of their posse to come running to their aid? It may seem fun for the likes of you to come in and waste some time playing sailor, but there are those of us who actually take this to be a serious career path…Go back to Palm Springs, Lainey and stop wasting my time!"

Andrew knew he was going too far by shooting this personal comment, but was powerless to stop it now that he'd begun his rant. He also knew it was far from true, but in his annoyance he was aiming at the only one available, not the actual source of his irritation.

Elaine froze as she took in just what he was saying. When had this become personal? When had she ever let her parents exert any influence in her professional life? She'd been through the recruiting and the hardships of boot camp, just like everybody else, so why was he accusing her like this now? She'd overcome so much in her life and had to work twice as hard to get as far as anybody else did. After all this time, how could he not see that she took her career just as seriously (if not more so, even) than he did? But by far the worst thing about this accusation was not the actual words he had said, but the bitterness that laced them. Did he really believe this? If he did (and Lainey was leaning towards the affirmative, judging by his attitude) then he really knew nothing about her at all. And all appearances of friendship were just that; appearance. And it wasn't just the loss of the friendship that ripped her heart to shreds, but that dim but always present flame that she had always nurtured, the hope that their friendship might one day develop into something more.

She gave him a hurt look and turned to run out of the bullpen. Mac was just in time to see the tail end of Andrew's rant, in this very public arena. She gave a sigh as she caught a glimpse of Elaine's brimming eyes as the young woman ran past her. She shot a look of loathing at the offending party, before she took off after the younger woman. Before she even got to the glass doors into the bullpen, she saw Harm wheel out of the way as Lainey hurtled past him, into the elevator. The young woman pressed a button once, then several more times, more forcefully, until the doors closed over. But most people in the corridor and some in the bullpen had still gotten a good look at the tears that were coursing down her face before their view was cut off.

Mac sighed to herself as she realized that it would take a lot more than a pep talk and some proposed courtroom rivalry to get her junior officer back on track.

OOOO

But to Mac's surprise, nothing needed to be said at all.

Despite the fact that James was acting like he had nothing to be sorry for (although he did seem a bit guilty sometimes, specifically when he noticed Harm and Mac turn their beady gaze upon him,) Elaine returned within ten minutes, with all traces of the incident washed from her face. She seemed almost as if it had never happened, but Harm and Mac knew better, because they had both had so much experience at hiding their emotions. They knew an emotional steel wall when they saw one and that was just what remained erected behind Elaine's usually expressive eyes. Now, they were just cold and detached- looking.

"Are you okay, Lieutenant?" Harm asked, from the desk where he and Mac were working together.

"I'm fine, Sir, Ma'am," Elaine answered, robotically, "I just came to apologize for that unprofessional scene out in the bullpen. I'd like to assure you that it will never happen again…"

"We know, because we've had very strong words with Lieutenant James," Mac informed her, "Who, as usual, was the instigator in this incident."

"Still, Ma'am," Lainey insisted, "I'd like to apologize for my own behavior, which was certainly not what the US military has come to expect of it's servicemen and women."

"What gives?" Harm asked, once they had excused Lainey to go back to her duties.

"I don't know what Lieutenant James is playing at," Mac shook her head, looking to where said officer was giving his partner a dirty look, presumably for 'getting him into trouble' with his superiors, "but if he doesn't get his head out of his six, he's going to end up losing his partner."

And nobody could have guessed how close Lieutenant James would actually come to this.

"Y'know," Harm broached the subject carefully, his eyes guarded, "I can remember a time when I had just as good an ability to say hurtful things to my partner…"

"I know you didn't mean them, Harm," Mac didn't even bother to go along with the 'your partner' pretense.

"You're right," Harm nodded, unexpectedly taking her hand in his, "Usually, it was a low, cheap shot and I didn't think before saying it. So many times I've regretted saying things like I did and it kills me when I think about the pain it caused you…"

"I was just as good at firing the barbed comments," Mac replied, giving his hand a squeeze, "I didn't mean any of them either, but I do regret the pain they must have caused. It's obvious that we know each other so well that we know just how to hurt each other. But that needs to stop…"

"It does," Harm nodded, offering his hand so that they could shake on it.

But their handshake was hardly business-like and certainly wasn't friendly. It was more like a caress and it shot right through them both like an electric shock.

OOOO


	3. Chapter 3

OOOO

Part 3

"So I'll have to approach the judge, first thing tomorrow in court to let him know that my clients have decided to change their plea to guilty," Elaine told Sturgis Turner, ruefully.

They were just two of several people who had turned up for an informal get together at Benzinger's.

Sturgis mistook Elaine's mood for disappointment caused by losing a case to her partner.

"Never mind, Lieutenant," he consoled her, "we don't have the luxury of being able to chose only innocent parties to defend and guilty parties to prosecute. We all lose a case at some point, even if it is a highly contested one."

But Sturgis knew nothing about the potential evidence that Elaine had. He didn't realize that she wasn't disappointed because she was losing to Andrew, but rather that she knew that her two clients were going to be punished to a far greater extreme than they deserved.

Things went further downhill between the two partners that evening when word got back to Andrew (innocently enough) that her client's guilty pleas were the cause of Elaine's off mood. Assuming that she'd been playing a game of one-upmanship, he had shook his head discretely but testily when he overheard others talking. Tonight, Andrew James became as ticked off as kicked dog.

Before they all decided to call it a night, Sturgis decided to buy the last round. However, in Lainey's absence, he consulted the other officers as to what to order for her.

"She'd probably take an ice-tea," Andy couldn't help himself from speaking up.

Many lunches and working dinners together had ingrained certain information in him and he'd noticed that her last drink had been non-alcoholic (Incidentally, only her first drink had been alcoholic, that night. She'd been feeling unwell towards the end of the day.) An ice tea would probably be the way to go.

"Would you give me a hand with the drinks?" Sturgis requested, since the young Lieutenant was making himself available.

"Sure," Andy got up from his seat.

When Sturgis put his order in at the bar, neither of them thought anything when no sugar syrup was given in a small container alongside Elaine's ice tea. They just presumed that the barman had remembered that she never took sugar in her ice tea due to the fact that she suffered from type 1, insulin-dependent diabetes. In fact, the barman, not wanting to wash up any more than he really had to after closing time, had actually added a liberal amount of sugar to the drink and sent it along with the others. He didn't know anything about how the young woman took her ice tea, because she'd actually been sipping on fruit juice most of the night.

Sturgis let Lainey know which drink was hers, once she returned from the bathroom and she unthinkingly took a large sip from it. Most of the syrup had pooled at the bottom and it was only when she was half-way through it that she began to really taste the sweetness. The thought registered vaguely with her mind, so she carefully tasted it again, then took a closer look at the base of the glass. Sure enough, she realized that she had indeed been consuming a sweetened beverage for some time now and that she'd need to haul ass to the ladies to administer some insulin, fast, as her blood sugar levels had been unsteady enough that day. She quickly set her glass down on the table and hurried back to the lady's room. By the time she returned, she was starting to feel bad and found to her dismay that only Andrew still remained at the bar. He had bought himself another drink, before he planned to hit the road. Quickly trying to focus on the bar scene before her and finding her vision was blurred, Elaine surmised that the last thing she wanted to do was to was get behind the wheel of her car. She then pulled her cellphone out of her handbag and shakily dialed for a cab, but the numbers she knew by memory or had stored in her phone were all engaged. With no other option, she finally turned to Andy, who was just getting up to leave.

"Andy, could I possibly get a ride home, please?" she asked, softly, sucking up her pride and disregarding all thoughts of the way he'd publicly insulted her, that day.

Maybe she'd usually be more reluctant to give up her stand, but she knew full and well how much danger her high blood sugar level had exposed her to. She knew the effects this could have on her health. Now was the time to put her health above any silly argument.

But Andrew James was far less forgiving.

"Don't think you're up to driving, huh?" he got out, tersely, "Well, don't think you can tattle on me for what happens out of hours…Call a cab like the rest of us."

With that, he left a stunned and frustrated Elaine in his wake as he powered past her to the door. Elaine thought about pursuing him, but knowing her luck, she'd trip over something and end up hurting herself. She didn't trust herself when she got hyperglycemic, previous experience had told her that she could not rely on her body in this state.

So she did the only thing she could, she took a seat and continued to try to order a cab on her cellphone, struggling to press the right buttons, sometimes.

OOOO

It was late when the General showed up for the weekly staff meeting, the next day, but nobody thought anything of Elaine's absence, because she was due in court. But the General's foul mood told everybody that something wasn't right, that morning.

"Would anybody care to enlighten me as to the whereabouts of one Lieutenant jg Elaine Hodge, please!" the irritated man bellowed.

When nobody answered his question, he turned his focus to individuals.

"Commander? Colonel? She is under your joint supervision, after all…No?"

Harm and Mac could only shake their heads, they'd seen nothing of Lainey this morning.

"How about you, Lieutenant?" Cresswell turned to Andrew, who had just arrived back from court, "She is you damn 'buddy', after all!"

He was quickly running out of patience and Andrew had no answer for him.

"I received a ticked-off phone call from the chambers of Judge Harkness two minutes ago, informing me that the Lieutenant never showed up…Is that what I expect from my officers? Hmmm? Being nearly an hour late for the first court session of the day?"

Everybody uniformly shook their heads. It was gravely apparent to all of them that this was a serious situation, especially as it involved a judge with little patience for junior officers. Amongst many of the younger staff members, the man was know as 'Judge Darkness.'

"I should damn well hope not," Cresswell bellowed again, "Now, Coates, you go and try her home number again and she'd better hope I find her within the next ten minutes, otherwise she's in for a whole world of pain, dealing with Harkness _and_ me!"

The meeting ended soon afterwards, when it became apparent that the search for Elaine was getting nowhere. The General stalked off to his office to make some calls himself, while the rest of the staff were left to either contemplate the strange occurrence or (as Harm and Mac did) make some calls of their own.

OOOO


	4. Chapter 4

I Won't be able to post tomorrow, so I'll do it now. Thanks again for the reviews! JulieM

OOOO

Part 4

"Would the General be able to see us, Jen?" Harm and Mac asked the petty officer.

She checked then gave them the go-ahead.

Once in his office and at ease, Mac reported the results of their own reconnaissance efforts.

"We called Lieutenant Hodge's roommate at work, Sir. She told us that she had assumed that Elaine had left home before her this morning, but didn't actually hear her come home last night."

"Hmm, I see…I want you to check with everybody who was at Benzinger's, last night," the General ordered, "Check to see if anyone saw her drive away in her car, if anyone followed the same route she'd have to have taken. If my suspicions are correct, the Lieutenant would rarely be this late for duty without good reason."

Time had allowed Cresswell to cool off a bit and with a clearer head on his shoulders, he was able to think and act more reasonably.

"Aye, Sir," Harm and Mac snapped to attention, then were dismissed.

It was soon established that Lieutenant James had been the last to see Elaine at Benzinger's and he now felt like a right heel, explaining to his superior officers how he had turned down her request for a ride home and proceeded to run out on her.

"What the hell were you thinking, Lieutenant?" Harm thundered in a way that would have made AJ Chegwidden proud, "She asked you to help her out and you told her 'no'!"

"I assumed that she had had too much to drink and that was the reason she didn't want to drive home herself," James tried to justify, "She'd spent the whole night avoiding me and moping because she was going to lose a case to me…"

"It's no excuse, Lieutenant!" Mac jumped into the fray, "She's your friend and fellow officer. How could you let office politics spill over into your personal lives?"

"You'd be just as well to ask her that question, Ma'am," James shot back.

"You are so close to insubordination, Lieutenant!" Harm and Mac both got in his face.

It was Sturgis who was the voice of reason in this fracas.

"I think the best course of action would be to take a trip to Benzinger's," he spoke up, "You could check the roads along the way and then ask the staff when they saw her leave, last night."

They all agreed that this was a good starting point, so set about securing permission from the General.

Harm and Mac both left Benzinger's with a better idea about what had happened after they had left.

They remembered Elaine being out of sight when they left and it was obvious that she had been in the bathroom, administering insulin to herself. They found several empty vials of her insulin solution in the trash in the lady's room.

They had occasionally noticed her regular trips to the restrooms at JAG, but had little idea of just how much work she had to put in to monitor and keep her condition in check. The number of empty little vials therefore meant little to them, as they didn't know how often she administered throughout the day.

The bartender and some of his staff were able to tell him how long she had stuck around, after the group had left and what she had been doing.

"Yeah, I did notice her," a tall man told them, "I was busy getting things behind the bar squared away, but I did notice her sitting over there on a cellphone. It seemed like she was trying to get a cab. But she seemed to have no luck. And here's the funny thing; I saw her go outside, later, once we were kicking everybody out for the night and climb into a car…Started it up and drove off…So I didn't get why she hadn't just left with the rest of your group. Instead, she first asked that other officer of yours for a ride home, but he seemed somewhat pissed off with her, so she began calling on her cellphone, presumably trying to get a cab, but it's a job to get them around here, that time of night."

"Thanks," Mac told him, gratefully, but with the look of concern still dominant on her face.

She and Harm walked outside, to discus what they had heard from the staff at the bar and formulate a plan as to what they were going to do next. They were stopped when Harm's cellphone rang. It was Andrew, who had news about the court case.

"Judge Harkness granted us a continuance, due the circumstances," he told Harm, "But I don't think he's going to let anybody away with anything, once this finally gets started again."

This was a lucky break indeed, because they had expected Judge Harkness to just request that somebody else be assigned to the case in Elaine's place.

"Lieutenant, the Colonel and I need you to call Elaine's physician and inform him of the situation. We need to get from him a better idea about her diabetes and find out how well she's been controlling it. Get details from him, like how much insulin she'd normally administer over the space of a day, details like that. Her physician and contact details should be listed on her file…"

"I know who her physician is, Sir," Andy told him, "I'll get into contact with him and let you know what he tells me."

"Good," Harm approved, wondering just how Lieutenant James how let things get this bad between him and Elaine, when he knew her and her life so well. It was clear that they were (or at least had been) very good friends.

Once they were done speaking to Andy, they went back to their discussion.

"So why was Lainey so worried about driving herself home all night, when that's what she ended up doing, in the end?" Mac asked.

"Maybe she was worried about the amount of alcohol she'd consumed," Harm justified, "Maybe she thought it would be better to wait for the side-effects to wear off."

"Sturgis told me she hardly drank at all, last night," Mac shook her head, but supposed, "but if the alcohol she consumed did have an effect on her, then that would explain all of the trips to the head to monitor her blood sugar and administer insulin. Alcohol can exacerbate unstable blood insulin levels."

"If Sturgis says she hardly drank," Harm went with her first impression, "then I believe him. He hardly drinks himself and I trust that he judged her drinking accurately. If he said 'hardly' then she couldn't possibly have had more than one or two."

"So what about the insulin?" Mac asked, "Was she just having a bad night? Was it the effects of a meal she ate before she came out?"

But both of them knew that diabetics knew what foods they should stay away from, because of the starch and sugar content. Elaine knew how to eat in order to control her condition. If she had been going heavy on the insulin, it was because her blood sugar levels were very high and that would have no doubt had her feeling bad.

Was she feeling too unwell to operate a vehicle? Had she tried to call a cab, failed and then just waited it out to see of the spell passed? It was clear that they were going to have to get back to the office and find out from Lieutenant James the details of Elaine's condition.

OOOO

On the way back to headquarters, Coates phoned them with the news that NCIS had now become involved in this, because the highway patrol had found Elaine's car at the side of the road, along the route she must have taken the night before.

"They called about an hour ago, Sir," Coates told them, "all her belongings were still in her car, even her cover. Her handbag and all her essentials were still inside, including her insulin and the syringe for administering it, so they're assuming that she didn't leave the vehicle of her own free will. Her right rear tire became flat a few miles from the bar, so they think she must have pulled over, but tire iron is still in its proper place in the trunk of the car."

This threw a whole new light on the matter and Harm and Mac instantly became very worried.

They were both tense on their journey back to headquarters, but as any tense situation tended to do, these days, it served to pull them together and they both knew that their collective talents could only help Elaine.

"Did I ever thank you?" Mac asked her partner, as they drew up to a traffic light on red, "That time in Paraguay and before that, with Coster. It was your idea to bug my car and follow me."

"You did," Harm confirmed, "but being best friends means never having to say 'thank you.' Besides, I could never thank you enough for harboring me as a fugitive, that time…Or for following me to Russia, twice, even leaving your fiancée behind the second time when the two of you were having problems. You've always helped me out when I've been in a tight spot, even putting me ahead of yourself. And for that, I thank you, Mac."

"Being best friends means never having to say 'thank you'," Mac repeated Harm's words, adding, "But for that reason, I'll always do my uttermost to help you, whenever you need it."

"Thanks, Mac," Harm told her, "The same goes for me."

And then they shared one of those moments, which could have very easily led to more, but for the honk of a horn from the car behind them.

The light had changed to green and Harm was forced to turn his attention back to driving.

OOOO

There was a nasty surprise waiting for them in the form of Special Agents Leroy Jethro Gibbs and Anthony DiNozzo.

"We're taking over investigation of this case," Gibbs continued his speech as Harm and Mac walked in, "and we would appreciate each and every one of you keeping your distance from anything concerning it."

There was little that the JAG group could do now, this was something that NICS had taken firm control over and it was obvious that they didn't appreciate getting any assistance from the JAGstaff members. Those who had come forward with any information or suggestions had been dealt with in a cold and hostile manner.

Harm and Mac went as far as to irk them further by going to the brig and interviewing the recruits involved in Andrew and Elaine's case, to see if any of this might have any to do with it.

The recruits had at first beenclear aboutnot intending tomention the individuals whom they had been taking orders from, but when they heard about Lainey's disappearance, it was clear that the recruits were becoming perturbed. Mac emphasized the importance of them telling her and Harm a name, if there was any chance that this person might have had involvement in Lainey's disappearance. Her life could count on the information they might be withholding. They still got nothing out of them, but left thinking that the two young men might still cave, once they'd had time to mull over the possibilities in their minds. They dropped in the term 'accessory to the crime' a few times for good measure.

Once they came face-to-face with the members of NICS again that afternoon, however, they were both again directly ordered not to go anywhere near to anything pertaining to Elaine's case. Cresswell, managed to get in a shot or two, pointing out that the recruits were part of an on-going investigation and that Harm and Mac would be working the case during Elaine's absence, so there was little that NCIS could do about it. He also pointed out that as Elaine's CO, he expected to be kept fully apprised of every step in the investigation, including any suspects they established. Harm and Mac knew that Cresswell would never keep this information from them, because he knew that the two of them were not only Elaine's co-workers, but also her friends.

"I take it that the two of you checked things out at Benzinger's," the General asked the three of them, after the NCIS agents had left.

"We did, Sir," Harm nodded, "We found out that Lieutenant Hodge remained there for a while after most of the staff left, until closing time, in fact. We also found out that she requested a ride home with Lieutenant James, but that, for one reason or another, he had to decline her. It seems that she tried repeatedly to call a cab from her cellphone, but that she was unsuccessful. In checking in the bathrooms, the Colonel and I found several empty vials of insulin, which Lieutenant Hodge used in order to control her diabetes. It seems that she may have been experiencing trouble with her blood-sugar levels and was not confident enough in her condition to drive herself home. We have requested some further details from the Lieutenant's physician, which Lieutenant James said he would take care of."

The General could clearly read the guilt in Lieutenant James's expression while the Commander was speaking, so decided to carefully probe this lead further.

"And did you manage to get hold of these details, Lieutenant?"

"Yes Sir, the doctor finally got back to me a few minutes ago," Andy managed to pull himself together enough to answer the General's question, "Lainey…Uh, Lieutenant Hodge's doctor was able to tell me that she had been experiencing some trouble with regulating her blood sugar levels for some time now. In the office, she sometimes reported to me that she was having trouble with her vision, feeling tired, even first thing in the morning and feeling thirsty and hungry, despite having recently consumed food and drink. Her doctor found at her last physical that she had lost weight. The conclusion was that Lieutenant Hodge was suffering from hyperglycemia, that is blood sugar levels that are excessively high. She was given instructions on how to manage these problems and also given new medication to help stabilize her condition, but her physician made it clear to me that if she is somewhere without her medication and her insulin, then Lieutenant Hodge is in very…very real danger…"

The last part of his report was badly catching in his throat as he was saying it, he hated knowing that Elaine was in danger and that he had been the reason for it. If only he'd gotten his head out of his six and given her that ride home…She'd be right across from him in court right now and not God-only-knew-where.

"I'll get right on the phone to NCIS," the General was saying, "and let them know how the urgency of this case has stepped up."

But Andrew James didn't take in a lot of what was going on after that. Before he knew it, it was 1800 and the remainder of the staff was getting ready to leave for the day. But they were going home to family and friends. The one friend he had was gone and he didn't know where she was or even if she was alright.

Where was he going to go to, tonight?

OOOO


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks go to all those who left great reviews for me...including the people who pointed out to me that type 1 diabetes would keep a person out of the Academy. Let's say that Lainy did not yethave it while attending the Academy, just in the interests of dramatic fiction! Could a person still serve at JAG Headquarters with a condition such as she has? Well, Bud managed to pass his fit-reps, after he lost his leg, so I'm going to say she can and carry on with the story anyway! Feedback, whether positive or negative is _always _welcome!

OOOO

Part 5

After they had secured for the day, Harm and Mac stayed out in DC, returning to their respective homes only to change. They spent the evening talking and walking around the Washington Memorial, then the Iwo Jima Memorial. They were just heading back to where they had parked their cars, by the mall, when they caught sight of a familiar figure standing by the wall.

Andy James was standing alone, engaged in conversation with somebody who obviously had their name recorded there as either missing or killed in action. Although they didn't want to intrude on him at this very personal moment in time, Harm thought they should stick around until he was done, so that they could check that he was okay.

"Men can be insensitive as times," he explained to Mac, "but it doesn't mean that they're incapable of experiencing emotions at times of great stress. I think that this will be weighing more heavily on him than he's letting on."

Mac had to agree, the two officers may have had their disagreements, but they very obviously cared about one another and the unresolved issues between them would only serve to make this a more bitter pill for Andy to swallow.

OOOO

"What am I gonna do, Pops?" Andy asked, quietly, standing by the black marble memorial, staring at the name engraved there, "What do I do if she doesn't come home? She's out there alone and she could be sick. She doesn't have her medicine with her. How do I go on without her? I don't want another partner, another best friend, another…another something-much-more…I've never let on about how I feel more for her than just friendship and now, just after I make a royal ass out of myself and upset her like I did, she's been taken from me. What if I don't get to apologize? Get to make it up to her for the stupid things I've done and said? It can't end like this, can it? Would God be so cruel?"

But Andy knew that this question was irrelevant. His Father had often told him that bad things happened in the world, things that were orchestrated by man, not God and unfortunately, not even prayer was enough to prevent many of those things from taking place. Andy felt like he could pray all he wanted, but at the end of the day, he'd still have to live with whatever life had decided to dish out to him. He only hoped that Elaine would return home safely. It didn't matter about anything else; the court case; their adversarial positions. That would likely always be a reality. If he could have her as a friend and colleague at work and a cherished friend outside work, then it was something he'd never ever be dissatisfied with, ever again. Just as long as she came home okay.

Perhaps he'd feel a bit better if he was able to do something, play some small part in the search for her, but he had been barred from the investigation from the beginning. The General had said that he had no objectivity when it came to Elaine, because she was his partner and a close friend. He was partly right; in his life, she was the close friend, the one who, it soon becomes clear, will always be a permanent fixture in your life, come hell or high water. After all of the shit he'd dished out, she'd never backed down, never let it deter her from clinging onto their friendship. In an instant, it became clear to him just why she had been so relentless, so unwavering in their friendship…Like him, she was willing to take him any way she could get him. Even if they never had anything more, despite how much the thought 'if only' plagued her, she was willing to stick at 'friendship' level, because anything lower would literally destroy her.

And Andy now saw this because it was just the same for him. She was an essential to him, as much as air, food and water. Without her, life didn't look all that much like a life at all. The prospect more closely resembled hell.

Andrew was a bit shocked when he was leaving and ran into the Commander and the Colonel. Unlike himself, they were both out of uniform, but were strangely as well-matched as they were in the office, like a pair of old, antique bookends. Such a thought would normally be amusing, but the thought of how he'd usually share such an observation with Lainey only squeezed his heart even harder.

"You okay, Lieutenant?" Harm asked, compassionately, "I see you like to visit the wall, too. I often find it a good place to get some perspective and mull through some tough decisions."

"It makes me feel as if I have somebody to talk to, Sir," Andrew admitted, "My Mother and I never had a grave to go to, so we'd come here…I'm sure you understand it, Sir."

Harm and Mac were shocked, they had never known that Lieutenant James had been in the same place as Harm, growing up.

"I didn't know," Harm admitted, "and I apologize for that."

"It's not something I've ever really spread about," Andrew explained, "It's not even on my personnel record. I've kept it quiet, because it is something about my early life that I've managed to move past. It's not that I don't love my Father, Sir, but I know that he wouldn't want me to miss out on life, just because he isn't here."

"Does anyone at work know about your Father, Andy?" Mac asked, softly.

"The General," Andrew replied, "but only because he knew my parents, a long time before…But Lainey is the only person I've ever told. Not even my friends growing up knew. It was hard enough on my Mother, being on her own with a child, but to constantly have reminders, I never wanted to bring that upon her as well."

A few seconds passed, in which Harm and Mac didn't know quite what to say in the face of Andy's surprising candor.

"We'll find Lainey," Mac tried to reassure him, "the General's losing patience with the NCIS investigation and he's going to push for some results. We've still got the recruits to interview, whether NCIS like it or not."

"Time is running out for her, Ma'am," Andy told her, frustrated by the helplessness that he was feeling, "if they don't give us some answers…"

"Don't give up on her yet, Andy," Harm cut him off, "We're going to do all that we possibly can to find her."

"Yes, Sir," Andrew replied, raking an anxious hand through his hair.

"Let's head back to JAG," Harm decided, "I'll make some calls, see if we can't summon up some help."

OOOO

An hour later, everyone was gathered around Bud, sitting at a computer terminal.

"We need to bring up the records for two seaman recruits," Mac instructed the younger officer, who was the best computer wizard at JAG, "We need to find out if they have any notes in their records from superior officers."

"Notes for what, Colonel?" Bud asked.

"Anything they got busted for," Mac told him, "Anything that may have attracted their CO's attention, anything that concerned them."

After finding nothing, Andy gave a frustrated sigh and wandered off to his desk. Harm and Mac went back into her office and tried to come up with a new action plan.

"So it might not be anything linked to her case," Mac reasoned, "but what other lead do we have to go with? I…I just feel so helpless…"

"Mac," Harm put a comforting arm around her shoulder, "don't do this to yourself. You're doing all you can…we all are."

"Goodness only knows how Andrew feels, right now," Mac pondered.

"He probably feels worse than any of us," Harm nodded, "Despite the way he acted, sometimes, I can tell he really cares about her. It's hard to sit by and do nothing when your best friend has dropped off the radar and you don't know if they're okay or not."

This brought Mac to a whole new realization.

"This is how you felt, isn't it?" she asked Harm, "When Webb and I were missing in Paraguay?"

"That wasn't your fault," Harm told her, "you were away on a mission approved by the SECNAV, you were doing your job."

"But it still doesn't diminish the fact that you worried about me," Mac insisted, "and that you came to save me. You saved my life, sacrificing your career to do so and I simply threw it back in your face."

"And I don't regret what I did for a minute," Harm maintained, "because if I hadn't, I would have lost you forever."

In that minute, Mac felt as if he'd reached out and physically touched her, though all they had shared was a look. It was something that had always been patently 'Harm-and-Mac.'

They were both prevented from further comment by the ringing of Mac's cellphone. She picked it up and Harm knew that it was something important by the look of urgency that spread across her face.

"We'll be right there," was the only comment she made, before hanging up.

"That was the brig," she told Harm, who was almost humming with the suspense, "We should get down there. It seems that our seaman recruits want to talk to us."

"Did they give you any clue as to what it was about?" Harm asked, a new hope dawning within him.

"They told a brig officer that they have 'something important' to tell us," Mac reported, adding, with hope, "This might be it, Harm…This could be the lead we're needing."

"We're not out of the game, yet," Harm agreed, summoning the additional reserves he would need to see this through.

"What exactly did the seaman recruits say to the brig officer, Ma'am?" Lieutenant James asked, eagerly, as they made their way to the brig.

"Just that they had to speak to their attorney," Mac told him.

She and Harm had decided early on not to tell Andy too much, in case they gave him false hope.

"It could be about Lainey though, couldn't it Ma'am?" Andrew asked, his hope buoyed.

"Maybe," Mac answered, non-commitantly, "But maybe not, Lieutenant. And as opposing counsel, I'm afraid that we won't be able to let you come in with us, when we interview them…"

James went to protest, but Mac assured him, "but that is why we agreed to let you come along to the brig with us. If we find out anything useful in helping us find Lainey, you'll be the next to know."

This seemed to settle him, but Harm could see that he was still displeased about not being there himself.

They left him at the reception area, then proceeded to where the seaman recruits had been seated in an interview room, waiting for them.

"Just what is this about, seaman recruits?" Harm asked, as they entered the room and took a seat, "I'm hoping this is something we will find useful in your defense."

"It's about the officer who was defending us, Sir, before you had been brought in on the case," one of the young men told them.

"Proceed," Mac authorized.

"She seemed to be a very nice lady," the man continued, "and we could tell that she was doing her uttermost to cut us a deal…"

Harm and Mac held their breath, but tried not to appear too obvious, at the same time.

"And we hate to think that she may be in danger, just because she tried to help us," the man continued, "The thing is, we wanted to plead guilty to the charges, even though we weren't completely to blame for the missing items and we were only storing the drugs…We had been threatened by one of the partners in this syndicate that was running."

"Is this partner someone inside the military, or outside?" Mac asked.

"Inside, Ma'am," the other man (who had more knowledge about this partner) now spoke up, "The day we spoke to Lieutenant Hodge, he was also around, demanding that we take the fall for everything. He told us that if he were implicated in this, hard labor in Leavenworth would seem like a luxury cruise compared to what he'd dish out to us. But now someone else is at risk. Lieutenant Hodge was trying to convince us to turn him in and help our own chances and he didn't like it. We think he may have been responsible for her disappearance."

"Who exactly is 'he'?" Harm asked and the two young men hesitated before they gave a name.

Harm and Mac were shocked by the information they got, but knew they had more pressing issues to pursue.

"Thank you both," Mac thanked them as she and Harm left, "I'm sure the courts will look favorably upon your plight, now that they know the truth. We'll have protection arranged for you as soon as possible."

"And we hope that Lieutenant Hodge is unharmed, Ma'am."

Harm and Mac could only echo that thought themselves.

"We need to get an address, Bud," Harm requested, as Mac drove and filled Andy in on what they'd learned.

Harm gave the name and then requested that Bud arrange for back-up and an ambulance to meet them at the address Bud found. He gave Mac the address and she turned the car in the right direction and stepped on the gas.

OOOO


	6. Chapter 6

As always, a big thanks again to the awesome (numerous!) people who left feedback in the review section for me. It provides me with endless encouragement!

OOOO

Part 6

Whoever the judge had been expecting, it certainly wasn't Harm and Mac. He was dressed in his dress whites and had obviously been expecting the knock at the door to be his date for the evening. After pushing his way in the door, Harm restrained the man and handcuffed him, while Mac and Andrew rushed into the house. They checked all of the rooms on the first floor and finding nothing, they ran up the stairs to the second storey. They found one door to be locked, so Andrew put his muscled shoulder to good use and knocked the door in, first time. He had no time to think about the pain this action caused, for his heart arrested at the sight of his partner. She was tied to the bed by her wrists and ankles and it looked like she was unconscious. He and Mac bolted to her side in a second, untying her bonds and checking her vitals. To Mac's relief, her pulse felt steady, but she could not help but be worried by the fact that Andy could not rouse her. Elaine had been without her insulin for a whole day and Mac knew that too-low levels of blood sugar over a prolonged period could lead to coma or even death. As Andrew untied her last bond, Mac ran from the room to go and summon the ambulance crew. They had been 'en-route' when they had arrived, but back-up had already been standing by.

"She's upstairs," Mac told Harm, who was overseeing the removal of Judge Harkness from the house, "But she's not coming to. We need to get her medical help, now."

Luckily at this, the ambulance pulled up outside and Mac went out to usher them in and give an account of what had transpired in the last two days.

Harm and Mac, apart from being worried, were fine until they got back upstairs, walking ahead of the medics who were bringing a gurney. They reached the threshold of the room and froze, catching sight of Lieutenant James, with his partner in his arms, completely breaking down, sobbing uncontrollably into her hair. Harm was able to relinquish Andy's hold on Lainey and convince him to let the medics treat her. He then led the Lieutenant downstairs, to try and help him get under control.

OOOO

It had been six days since Elaine Hodge had been admitted to hospital and she was itching to get home. Despite feeling much the same as before her ordeal, she seemed to be experiencing nothing much more serious, so was eager to get back to the comfort of her own bed. Many of her friends and co-workers had stopped by over the last few days, including her CO, her two mentors, her partner and various other JAG staff-members. She had been offered enough assistance to know that she would be well taken care of, so she had left a message at the nurse's desk for her doctor, who was currently doing the rounds of his patients in another wing of the hospital.

"Lieutenant Hodge," the tall doctor trailed an unknown individual behind him, a while later, "I hear you've been pestering the nurses about being allowed home again."

"Well," Elaine admitted, "I know that I'm doing fine, feeling nothing that I can't control with my medication from the comfort of my own home, so yeah, I do believe that it is time that I was released."

Her doctor looked to the man behind him, who stepped up to the bed and spoke up.

"That's just it, Lieutenant Hodge," he told her, "Doctor Gray has asked for my opinion on your condition and I'm afraid that you cannot go home. It seems a lot more is going on with you than any of us previously realized…"

OOOO

His partner was conspicuously quiet when Andrew turned up to visit her on his lunch hour, that afternoon.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, "There isn't anything wrong, is there?"

"They're not going to let me out," Elaine told him, "They want to run more tests on me."

"I'm sure they just want to make sure that you're okay," he supposed, "I know I prefer to know that you're in here and being taken care of than to know nothing of where and how you are."

"I hate hospitals," she continued to complain, "I've spent entirely too much of my life in them, already."

I know you do," Andy consoled her, "but you've been very lucky to get through all of this unscathed…I mean, if there was something seriously wrong with you, the doctors would have mentioned it, wouldn't they?"

"I guess so," Lainey replied, then changed the subject, "My parents are flying in, tomorrow morning."

"Have they got a ride from the airport?" Andrew asked, "I could go and collect them, if you want."

"They're getting a rental car," Lainey told him, "But thanks."

"Anything you need," her partner told her, sincerely, "you only need to ask."

And that only broke Lainey's heart a bit more, because she knew what she should be telling him would absolutely devastate him once she couldn't hide it any longer. But she would wait until she knew for certain before she'd bring him into her problems. Her parents had helped her through things before and there was a chance that they could do so again.

OOOO

"Did Lieutenant Hodge seem awful quiet to you, Ma'am?" Harriet asked Mac, as they waited for the coffee to brew in the break room.

"A little," Mac nodded, "but she's been through a lot. She's bound to have sapped her energy reserves."

"She's been in the hospital an uncommon amount of time, seeing as there's nothing obvious wrong with her," Sturgis joined in the conversation, as he and Harm returned from court.

"It's probably just the doctors being cautious," Mac justified, "since she has a medical condition and all."

"Lieutenant James said that he'll visit her this evening," Harriet added, "And her parents flew into DC this morning, so I'm sure she's being well taken care of."

All of them knew that despite the top-notch medical care that one could get here, there was still no substitute for loving care that one needed when you had been through as much as Elaine had.

OOOO

"I'm sorry," the doctor apologized as he reported the results of the set of blood tests, "But one of the most important tests came up positive."

"What does that mean?" Mrs. Hodge tried to process this information, but was drawing a blank.

"Well, we talked about how certain blood groups were compatible. As you know, your daughter has a different blood group to your husband and her sister, but the same as yours and that was running in our favor. But when considering a procedure like this, we need to make sure that there is nothing in your daughter's blood which any part of your body would react to as foreign, as it would predict certain rejection at a later stage. I'm afraid that our tests came out positive. There was a reaction, so we think there is something in her blood, probably passed genetically from her Father that is reacting against your tissue. It means that we cannot go ahead…"

And with those terrible words, Lainey knew that she would have to tell Andrew.

OOOO


	7. Chapter 7

AN: Just a quick warning; this is dramatic, probably much more so than most 'real-life' events might be, but that is one of the joys of this medium! Welcome to the wonderful world of fanfiction!

OOOO

Part 7

"Hey!" Andrew exclaimed as she appeared through the doors, "I didn't know that they were letting you out."

"It's just for the afternoon," Lainey told her partner, "I explained that I had some things to take care of, but that I'd be back as soon as I could. My parents are standing by, downstairs, but I've got some time."

"Don't worry about any of your old cases," Andrew mistook her reason for coming here, "We're taking care of everything, so that you can take all the time you need and recuperate."

He was surprised when Lainey requested him to come with her, then went and asked the Colonel and the Commander to join them as well. She led them to Coates' desk then requested a meeting with the General.

"Send them right in," Cresswell authorized, straight away.

"Good to see you back on your feet," he told Elaine, the first one in the door, "I trust your doctors have said you're back to full health?"

"Actually, Sir, that is why I requested to meet with you," Elaine told her CO, "and it's important that the Colonel, the Commander and the Lieutenant be present, too."

Elaine took a deep breath that immediately set her friends on edge and launched into the words that she had formulated and practiced with her parents, last night.

"I'm only out on day-release and I have important issues which I need to make all of you aware of…My condition is much more serious than was ever realized and a few days ago, my doctors informed me that I am in the first stages of severe kidney failure…"

Excepting the General, everyone else's mouths fell open slightly and Mac even gasped.

"It's something that has been caused by my unstable blood sugar levels, which I have been badly affected by for some time now," Elaine went on, "But to get straight to the heart of the matter; because of my diabetes and other factors, it seems that dialysis, the usual course of action in a case such as mine, would not be a long-term solution."

"What other options are open to you, Lieutenant?" Cresswell asked, feeling very bad about what he'd just been told.

"My only other option would be a transplant, Sir," Elaine told him, "My doctors said that a family member would give a greater chance of success, but testing has proved that none of my family will be suitable. Either their blood type is not compatible, or there is something in my blood that would react negatively with their tissue. My doctors have now placed me on the list for donation, but it is a list that is so long that, coupled with the shortage of donors, I could be waiting for a very long time. In the meantime, I can go ahead with dialysis, but there is no telling how long that will continue to prove useful."

By now, all of the other officers had shrunken in stature; they all didn't even begin to know how to react to this.

"Sir, if I may, could I speak to you in private for a few minutes before I go, to discus what implications all of this is going to have for my career?" Lainey requested.

"Of course, Lieutenant," Cresswell nodded, ordering the others, "Could you three leave us for a minute? The Lieutenant will see you all before she leaves, I'm sure."

Elaine nodded in confirmation and all of them stood to attention before their CO, before turning to go.

Once the door shut behind them, General Gordon Cresswell felt his heart hurt more than he could recently recall. Elaine had become like a daughter to him.

"Let me just say, Lieutenant," he spoke up, "that I am incredibly sorry to hear your news…I…I just cannot find the words…"

"Thank you, Sir," Elaine appreciated the sentiment, "I felt much the same, myself. But I remain confident that I can continue to live some kind of a life with the aid of dialysis. However, I expect that this will interfere with my military career, somewhat…"

"Something can be worked out, Elaine," the General went to interrupt her, but Elaine continued.

"But that wouldn't be fair to everyone here at JAG, Sir. I'm going to need dialysis at least four times a week, sometimes for more than six hours at a time. There's no way I'll be able to put in the hours I should."

"Then we'll give you temporary leave," Cresswell disputed.

"We have no idea how long this is going to be for," Elaine tried to reason, "I could be on dialysis for years, Sir. And then, if I get the transplant, that's more time out of action."

She lifted a white sealed envelope out of her purse and pushed it over the desk towards her CO. Cresswell didn't have to ask what it was

"No, Lieutenant…we'll make it work," he insisted.

"The transplant would be the hopeful outcome," Elaine tried another tack, "If the dialysis stops being effective and no new organ comes forward for me, I'm going to die, Sir…"

This seemed to hit the two of them like a punch to the gut. It was obvious that this was the first time that Elaine had voiced this fear aloud. Gordon watched as her brave façade crumbled and within a second, he was around the desk, taking the young woman into his arms.

OOOO

It was a lot more than a few minutes before Lainey emerged from the General's office. Harm and Mac stood with a crowd of concerned and very upset colleagues in the bullpen. Andy had retired to an empty office, to break down in private. Bud and Harriet were just about holding it together, but only by exerting extreme joint effort.

A few people jumped when they heard Cresswell's office door opening. Jen Coates stood to greet Lainey and told her how sorry she was to hear her bad news. Many other people did too, once she came out into the bullpen. But nobody knew what else they could possibly say to make any difference.

Over the next few days, people would most probably be sending cards and flowers her way, but they would all agonize how inadequate it would be. Elaine was one of their own; someone who they had fought to save from danger. They had achieved their aim, but now she was faced by this new threat. And there was nothing they could do about it. They were lawyers, not doctors and it was incomprehensible that one so much younger than themselves, one with a future that had been so full of promise, might actually be taken from them. Simply put, it was not fair.

That was the first thing that came from her partner's lips, when he emerged, disheveled and broken.

"It's not fair…"

Elaine looked round, from where Harriet was wishing her the best, to see her usually-strong Lieutenant partner looking like the kid who dropped his ice-cream cone.

"Such is life," Elaine murmured, unable to find a way of comforting her partner, not without breaking down again herself. She couldn't let her resolve soften, now. The talk in Cresswell's office had proved that she had to remain strong, had to keep it together.

The rest of the staff retreated, to give the pair a minute.

"This can't be happening," Andy shook his head, as if to wake up from a bad dream.

"It is," Elaine told him, "and it's been a possibility my whole life. It's still a shock, but it's something I've got to accept and move past."

"What were you talking to the General about?"

"My career…it's essentially over, in the face of all this…Andy, you realize that it'll be hard enough to come away from all of this with my life…"

"Don't say that!" Andy whispered, vehemently.

"Why not?" Elaine asked, "It's the truth…"

"They're going to find you a new kidney, and in the meantime, the dialysis will keep you well," he insisted, "There's no reason why you can't continue your life as normal."

"My military career isn't an option with the treatment I'll be receiving," Elaine told him, gently but firmly, "I've already handed the General my letter of resignation. But I promise to keep in touch with you all. JAG has become part of my family and you know that you've always been important to me, right from our first day on the job together."

She leaned in and hugged him, getting ready to make an exit, but Andrew held her in his arms for a little longer than she planned.

"You're important to me, too," he told her and decided to go for broke, "and you always will be, so you can't just leave me, you hear? That's why you've got to fight this and come back to me. I don't want a new partner and I promise, I'll do anything I can if it means that I can have my partner back."

"Unfortunately," Elaine gave him one last smile, "that isn't a promise you can keep, Andy…No rabbit out of the hat, this time."

With her last remaining resolve, she began to walk away towards the elevators, every staff-member's attention on her.

"Have one of mine."

Elaine froze, as Andrew's words sank in. She turned around and just stared at him.

"Take one of my kidneys," he repeated, "Hell, you can even chose which one …"

"What?" Elaine frowned, "Why? Why are you doing this?"

"Because I don't want anybody as my partner but you," Andrew told her honestly, not even thinking about all the people who were listening and watching, "Because I don't want to lose you. I couldn't live my life if you weren't here, too. I want you healthy and happy and right beside me…"

"You'd risk that? This is major surgery, Andy," Elaine asked, adding, "If you're even a match, there will be so much to go through. It might affect your life, not to mention your career. You could even die during this surgery, if something goes wrong."

"Without you, I'm dead already. I love you and I can't live without you…"

That was enough to snap any restraints either of them had left intact. When they met, it was with a passion that overshadowed any of the doubts they had ever had. And it was met with great joy by the rest of the staff, including the General who had been watching from his outer office, with the uttermost satisfaction.

OOOO


	8. Chapter 8

An: So sorry for the delay in getting this sotry posted. I wasn't able to upload any documents for several days and could not even put up a small note to let you know about the problem. The problem is now fixed, so I'm going to go ahead and post the rest of the story, all in one go.

OOOO

Part 8

"You need help?" Harm asked, from beside the kitchen door.

Mac was preparing the veggies for a salad to accompany their lunch, but she'd nearly cut her fingers off a couple of times, because her mind was so preoccupied.

"I think you should take over," she set the knife down, "It's probably best if I weren't in charge of using the big kitchen knife."

Harm gave a chuckle, washed his hands and took over. Mac went back to supervising the pasta that was cooking on the stove.

"So, do you think they'll have gone in for their appointment, yet?" Harm asked, as they both tucked into their meal, twenty minutes later.

"Maybe," Mac supposed, "But you know how busy the hospital gets, this time of day. They might be delayed, a bit."

OOOO

Andy and Lainey's appointment had indeed been delayed, but only by twenty minutes or so, which was good for late-morning Saturday.

The doctor finally came to the door and called them in, after reading Elaine's case notes.

"So, it says here that the two of you are here today to see if your blood types are compatible to go ahead with a kidney transplant…What blood group do you have Mr…"

"James, Lieutenant JG Andrew James, Sir," Andy filled him in, "and I'm A negative, just like Lainey."

"That's good," the doctor approved, "Although blood types don't always have the be the exact same type, an exact match is a good thing. But you do of course understand that even though your blood types are identical, that does not mean that the Lieutenant will be suitable to be your organ donor. We will have to do a tissue-typing test, to make sure that your tissues match as well as your blood types. And sometimes, the recipient may carry some sort of antigen in their blood, which turns on the donor organ and thus the body rejects it…"

"That was the case with my Mother," Elaine nodded.

"But we want to try," Andy added, "We can only take the tests and see if we'll be okay to go ahead with the transplant."

"Of course," the doctor nodded, "I only mean to make certain that you are prepared for any eventuality, you understand…Ms. Hodge, I see that your tests in the hospital showed that you have no heart problems…That is good. You will need to have this checked every year that you are on dialysis. But I sincerely hope that this will not prove necessary…I wish the both of you the very best of luck. The nurse down the hall will take a sample of blood from each of you, then the tests will be completed as you wait. It might take a while, though…"

"That's no problem," Andrew told him, "and thank you, doctor."

They both shook hands with the man and left the room to go in search of the nurse's office.

OOOO

"Mommy," little AJ asked, from where he and Jimmy were playing with his friend, Jake, "Can we go to the park, today?"

"Not today, honey," Harriet shook her head, "Mommy would like to stay close to home, today. You remember that Uncle Andy and Aunt Lainey are going to the hospital for their tests, don't you? They should be calling any time, now, to let us know what the results are."

"What're the tests for, again?" AJ asked, for about the hundredth time since his parents had first explained it.

"It's to test and see if Uncle Andy can help Aunt Lainey get better, so she doesn't have to be sick anymore," Harriet explained, again, trying to keep her explanation simple enough for a four-year-old.

"And if Uncle Andy can help her, will Aunt Lainey be able to come back to work at JAG?" AJ asked.

"I hope so," Harriet nodded, "But that'll be up to Aunt Lainey. Maybe she might want a job where she wouldn't be so busy."

"I hope she does get better and comes back to JAG," AJ told his friend, "I can tell, my Uncle Andy really misses her. They used to be partners, you know…"

Harriet just smiled, as she watched over the three boys playing. Many children were lucky enough to be born in good health, but there were some, like Lainey, who had spent their childhoods going in and out of hospital.

OOOO

Elaine and Andrew had finally given up for the day and gone home, because the test results had still not come back from the lab. The nurse had promised to get back to them, as soon as the results arrived on her desk.

They sat down to watch tv for a while before they were to make dinner, but Andy kept finding his gaze being drawn towards the clock on the mantelpiece. Knowing this was a sure way to drive himself crazy, he escaped to the kitchen, to get a start on preparing the meal.

"Think you might want to eat a little early?" he asked Lainey, as she came in to get a drink of water.

"Sure," she glanced over at him, appraisingly then asked, "Couldn't sit still any longer, could you?"

Andrew chuckled, then pulled her into his arms, burying his face into the side of her neck and nuzzling her.

"It'll be okay," Elaine soothed him, running a hand up the back of his neck and through his hair, "The nurse will call back with the results and whatever they tell us, we'll just move on from there…If the tissue-typing is incompatible or the cross-matching is positive; we keep waiting and I just continue with the dialysis. If the tissue-typing is compatible and the cross-matching is negative; we start with the medication, the preliminary tests and the counseling sessions until the doctors think we're ready. You'll still have plenty more time to wait, either way, so you'd better start getting used to it."

"Yes Ma'am," Andrew gave her a mock salute and Lainey walked out of the kitchen, mumbling something along the lines of, "Good to know just who's in charge in this house…"

And Andrew didn't care; as long as she was alright, he'd give up any claim he had to responsibilities, if that was what made her happy.

OOOO

"Hello, Mac?" Harriet asked, as she heard the phone get picked up, "It's Harriet."

"Hey Harriet," Mac greeted, "I take it you haven't heard anything either…"

"No," Harriet shook her head, "Bud and I were hoping that you had."

"No," Mac told her, "they haven't been in touch with me. As far as I know, they were to wait at the hospital for the results, but their appointment must have been over hours ago. But if they're still at the hospital, they won't be picking up their cellphones."

"I didn't want to bug them," Harriet agreed, "They have enough on their minds without us calling them up and hassling them. I guess it's just a waiting game."

"I'm sure that they won't be too much longer…" Mac began.

She cut off whatever she was going to say when she heard the signal for the call-waiting.

"That's somebody calling, Harriet," she explained, quickly, "I'd better check…But I'll let you know as soon as I hear something."

"Thanks Mac, talk to you later," Harriet bid her goodbye.

Unfortunately, it was just the Admiral who, like Harriet, was checking to see whether Mac had heard anything.

OOOO

Lainey dropped her fork as the phone in the living room began to ring. She paused only momentarily before she rose to her feet and crossed the room to pick the receiver up.

Andrew watched her intently, as she had a quick conversation with the person on the other line.

"Uh-huh…Yes, that's right…You're sure about that?…And the other one?…I see…Okay, I'll do that, thank you."

"Well?" he was a little hesitant in asking, once she had returned to the table, "What were the results of the tests?"

"The tests," Elaine regarded him carefully, watching his facial expressions, "showed compatible and negative, respectively..."

Before he let himself feel anything, he checked, "I understand 'compatible,' but negative is what we were hoping for, right? For the transplant to be a success?"

"Yes," Lainey smiled, "That's what we were hoping for."

Andy didn't give himself a chance to think anything else, but stood up and swept her into his arms.

The phone-lines between the JAG staff were burning up that night, as the good news was passed around from person to person.

OOOO

Part 9

Three weeks later…

"Are you okay?" Andy asked, as he lifted the empty plate from the bed beside where Elaine was resting.

"Just tired," she assured him.

She'd had a mammoth session of dialysis that day; the process had taken the longest time yet. Although she was able to sit and rest while it was taking place, it still took an awful lot of energy out of her.

"Do you think you could give me my insulin tonight?" she asked her boyfriend, "I don't think I'll be able to hold the needle steady."

It wasn't something that Andrew enjoyed, but he wanted to help his girlfriend in any way he could, so he had learnt how to do this and had now become quite good at it.

"Where shall it be, tonight?" he asked, taking a look at first one thigh, then the other, then lifting up her shirt and examining the flesh of her smooth, taut abdomen.

"I stuck there, yesterday," Lainey told him, drowsily, "Left thigh, I think…"

Andy went and washed his hands, then removed the syringe from its case. He swabbed over a small patch with rubbing alcohol, then filled the syringe with the correct dosage and tapped out any bubbles.

"Relax," he told Lainey and she took several deep breaths and exhaled, trying not to tense up her muscles, as this would only make things more painful.

The pain was minimal when the needle first went in, but stung a bit while the insulin was being injected. Andy, however, had enough practice at doing this so that he knew what speed he was best using to deliver the insulin. As he pulled the needle out, Lainey pressed a cotton ball over the puncture mark, while he went and got her a band-aid.

"Thank you," she told him, once it was all done and her other medication taken, giving him a kiss and lying down on the bed as he climbed in behind her.

They both forgot about even getting changed into pajamas, they were so tired that they both went to sleep almost instantaneously.

OOOO

Two months later…

"You okay?" Mac asked, toweling off her hair as she left the bathroom.

"Yeah," Harm nodded, from where he still lay in bed, "Just wondering what's going on just now, is all."

"They're probably being prepped for surgery," Mac told him, "but I doubt the surgeon would be there, this early…would you like to give the nurse's station a call? I'm sure Lainey or Andrew's parents wouldn't mind telling us how everything is going."

"No," Harm dismissed, pulled himself to sitting, "we'd probably just cause more delay."

OOOO

The week had been stressful enough, but the surgery had been put back from the day before, because the surgeon had been pulled away on an emergency case. Even though the whole staff had thought that Lainy's case was a priority one itself, they conceded that it probably didn't exactly classify as 'emergency.' But one thing was for sure; she wouldn't be able to continue with dialysis for much longer, as it was becoming less and less effective. With the demands that it and managing her diabetes placed on her, Elaine now stayed home in between dialysis sessions and Andy had taken a leave of absence to care for her full-time.

The transplant being pushed back had been a bitter pill to swallow for the JAG staff, as it was now occurring during work hours and not during the weekend, outside of their time on duty. Several staff members had court sessions today, but had their beepers with them so that they would get the news from their colleagues as soon as it was in from the hospital.

"Coates!" Cresswell bellowed, as he returned from a meeting with the SECNAV, "Bring me some strong coffee and some Tylenol!"

The other staff members felt at least a little better after witnessing this, knowing that at least they weren't the only ones feeling anxious, today.

OOOO

"You scared?" Andy reached out of his bed and took his girlfriend's hand.

They were both ready for going down to pre-op, but had a few minutes while they waited for the anesthesiologist. Both sets of parents ( Elaine's parents and Andy's Mom and Stepfather) had wished them good luck and had promised to be there when they both woke up in the ICU, afterwards. They would both stay there to be closely monitored for at least a few days after the surgery.

"Why should I be scared," Lainey asked, "when you'll be there the whole time? You promised you'd always take care of me and…"

"And it's not a promise I intend to break," Andy finished for her.

"Besides," Lainey gave a small laugh as she eyed his chest where the blanket only half covered him, "I'm going to enjoy laughing when your Mother teases you about your bald chest! And hear her telling you off for scratching it when the hair comes back through…"

"I kinda like it all smooth," Andy joked, grinning wickedly, "It's kinky! Besides, I'm not going to ask where they might have shaved you."

"You'll never know…" Lainey told him, grinning mock-sternly, just as the nurses and a doctor came back to wheel them down.

"You'll be going first, Lieutenant," the doctor told Andy, "We'll bring Ms. Hodge straight down after you and you'll have a few minutes in pre-op before the anesthesiologist arrives to do his thing. We'll see you in just a minute, Ms. Hodge…"

"She's a Lieutenant JG as well, you know," Andy told his doctor, who raised his eyebrows, impressed, "Went through boot-camp and everything…"

"I 'was' a Lieutenant JG," Elaine corrected him.

"And will be again," Andrew added, "once all of this is taken care of. We're gonna have a few impressive battle-scars, too, you realize."

"I can just imagine you two showing them off at work," the doctor joked, to which Lainey replied, "Oh, don't think he won't doctor!"

They all laughed and then Andy was wheeled down the corridor, towards the elevator.

As they were separated for a short period, Andrew raised his fingers to his lips and blew Elaine a kiss that was meant to 'keep her going' for the next few minutes.

Elaine mouthed 'I love you' back to him, before he turned a corner and disappeared from her sight.

Elaine's nurses and team of surgeons arrived, just a few minutes later and she was on her way, too…

OOOO

Epilogue

"You alright, honey?" Andrew asked his wife as they sat on the blanket spread over the ground.

"Yeah," she nodded, "just a little sore."

Their wedding had been a very low-key affair, which had taken place while they were both still in hospital. Andrew had been about to be released, while Elaine had to stay there for a little longer and resume dialysis to help take the pressure off her new kidney, while they waited for it to get up to speed. Andy had decided that he'd give her something to look forward to, once she got home from hospital so had enlisted the help of his Mother in picking out an engagement ring. The lovebirds had caved within a few days and decided to hold a very low-key ceremony in the hospital chapel, attended by family, friends and co-workers. Since that day, the two of them had gone from strength to strength, and not just where their health was concerned.

Harm and Mac were the next down the aisle in a ceremony that was organized just after Elaine had been told her new kidney was now functioning at almost 100.

"Can I get you anything?" Andy asked, "Something to eat or drink?"

"No, thanks," Elaine thanked him, happy for now to stretch out in the sunshine and enjoy the life she had once assumed she would never have.

Harm, Mac, Bud and Harriet were over by the barbecue, where Mac was showing Bud how to cook burgers without reducing them to lumps of coal.

"AJ Roberts," Harriet called out to her son, "Your brother is only five years old! I don't want you seriously injuring him until he's at least your age!"

AJ was wrestling with his youngest brother, born five years after him and three years after Jimmy.

"But that's still five years away, Mom!" AJ objected.

"I said no wrestling moves, Mister!" Harriet warned him again and he let Mark go.

Mark went off to join his twin sister Nikki, who was having a fun time in the sand, showing her 'little cousin' (Ashley Rabb was only one year younger, but idolized Nikki all the same) how to make perfect sandcastles.

"We've nearly got the burgers ready, kids!" Harm called them all in, fixing them to the specification of each child, "Come and get some wet-wipes for your hands so that you're ready to eat."

"Do you want a burger?" Mac asked, scooping her daughter up and proceeding to clean off her hands.

The girl just wrinkled her nose and shook her head, vehemently.

"That's your fault," Mac couldn't help but laugh as she accused her husband, "You've been poisoning her mind against the joys of red meat, haven't you?"

Harm finished dressing the last burger and put it on the plate that Harriet was about to bring over to the large picnic table.

"Hey, she just takes after me, that's all," Harm tried to talk himself out of trouble, "Some of us just don't like the taste of artery clogging animal fat…"

"Ar-tree cloggin' ani-muh fat…" Ashley mimicked him, with a smile.

This cut off any other excuse that Harm was about to give his wife, but Mac just laughed and took Ashley over to where Elaine and Andrew sat on the picnic blanket spread out over the ground. She saw Elaine shifting a bit uncomfortably and asked,

"Would you be a bit more comfortable at the picnic table, Lainey?"

Elaine shook her head, "No thanks, Mac. I'm okay," as Andrew moved in behind her, a leg on either side of her so that she could lean back and rest her weight upon him.

"Is the incision still hurting?" Mac asked, sympathetically.

"Yeah, but that'll be normal for the next few weeks. It's a pretty major surgery, after all," Lainey explained

"Yeah, but just look at what it got us," Andy pointed out, leaning to look over Elaine's shoulder, with a smile.

"I'll say," Mac grinned, looking down at her and Harm's ten-day-old Godson, who had been delivered by caesarean section, now safely settled in his Mother's lap.

"Jeremy Andrew James." Lainey spoke to her sleeping son, "You are our little miracle!"

Fin


End file.
